Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Psychopathology in Adolescence: Evidence From the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods

Abstract

Purpose: Emerging scientific evidence and media accounts document an association between mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) and deleterious mental health outcomes in adulthood. This study focuses on exploring the relationship between mTBI and increased risk for psychopathology in a sample of adolescent youth.

Methods: Longitudinal data from adolescent youth aged 10-18 years (n = 1,827) from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods are analyzed. Multivariate negative binomial regression models are calculated to examine the relationship between mTBI and aggressive behavior, anxiety/depression, attention problems, somatic symptoms, and delinquency.

Results: Participants with a mTBI were significantly more likely to demonstrate an increase in symptoms of aggressive behavior, anxiety/depression, and delinquency while controlling for several confounders and prior levels of psychopathology.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that mTBI is an important environmental risk factor for increases in psychopathology during adolescence. Health professionals should begin to consider screening children for mTBI to better address the influence of this type of victimization experience on the emergence of symptoms for internalizing and externalizing problems during adolescence.

Keywords: Adolescents; At-risk youth; Mild traumatic brain injury; Psychopathology.